For these two storied franchises, there wasn’t much mystery about who would get the ball on Opening Day.

Both the Giants and Yankees will turn to their aces when they open the season on Thursday in the Bronx, producing a matchup between two of the best right-handed starters in the sport. It’ll be the fourth consecutive year New York turns to Gerrit Cole on Opening Day and the second straight that San Francisco has tabbed Logan Webb with the assignment.

RHP Logan Webb
Previous Opening Day starts: 2022
2022 season: 15-9 with a 2.90 ERA in 32 starts

Plenty of intriguing subplots will surround Webb’s second consecutive Opening Day start for the Giants, as he’s expected to oppose Cole (Brandon Crawford’s brother-in-law) and take on a lineup headlined by reigning American League MVP Aaron Judge, whom Webb unsuccessfully tried to recruit to San Francisco during the offseason.

“It’s an honor to be able to say I started on Opening Day, especially because we’ll be at Yankee Stadium,” Webb said. “My family’s pretty excited about it. I think there’s like 50 people coming, so it’s going to be just like pitching at home. I’m excited.”

Webb is coming off a sensational 2022 campaign that saw him set career bests in games started (32), innings pitched (192 1/3), ERA (2.90) and wins (15), but Giants manager Gabe Kapler said he believes the 26-year-old is capable of leveling up even more as he enters his fifth Major League season.

“I do think that we haven’t seen his best,” Kapler said. “I think there’s still some emotional volatility we can work on. He’s very hard on himself. … If we can find a way with Logan to let himself off the hook a little bit more, he might be able to turn the page to the next pitch and see how capable he is of running through lineups without the perfect shape of his slider or the perfect depth on his changeup or locating his heater. Maybe just taking a little pressure off himself has a chance to elevate his game. I think he’s the type of guy who can be in the Cy Young conversation on a regular basis.”

RHP Gerrit Cole
Previous Opening Day starts: 2020, '21, '22
2022 season: 13-8 with a 3.50 ERA in 33 starts

This marks Cole’s fourth spring as the Yankees’ ace, and manager Aaron Boone has yet to feel the need for a formal conversation outlining the assignment of an Opening Day start. Simply count backward from that date, and the club’s choice becomes evident.

“That’s what I’m lined up to do,” Cole said. “We try to do things a bit more ‘one day at a time,’ I think, for a number of reasons. But that’s what the plan is.”

Cole’s first Opening Day start as a Yankee came on July 23, 2020, as the pandemic-shortened season began at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C. Cole picked up a complete-game victory that night despite throwing only five innings in a rain-abbreviated contest.

He received a no-decision against the Blue Jays in the April 1, 2021, opener at Yankee Stadium after striking out eight and allowing two runs over 5 1/3 innings. Cole also accepted a no-decision last April 8 against the Red Sox, when he permitted three runs over four innings in the Bronx.

“Everything has been real sharp for him from the start of camp,” Boone said. “The bullpens have been real purposeful. For it being March, he’s executing really well.”

MLB.com Yankees beat reporter Bryan Hoch contributed to this report